Reaching the conclusion of whether or not a location is haunted can be like putting together a puzzle.

“It’s a big puzzle,” said Doug Hogate Jr., founder/CEO of Jersey Unique Minds Paranormal Society. “After an investigation, we have to take all the pieces, put them together and come up with a conclusion — if we can.”

During a recent investigation at the Salem City Municipal Building on New Market Street in Salem, JUMPS gathered many pieces of the paranormal puzzle that they haven’t quite fit together yet.

The building, which was built in 1928 and is filled with intricate, original woodwork including back-to-back fireplaces on the first floor, originally stood on Broadway and served as a bank.

“It was moved back and turned, and now sits on New Market Street,” Hogate said.

Hogate was approached by someone who suggested JUMPS investigate the historic building, and so he wrote to the City Council and was approved.

Hogate said people have been having strange experiences in the building for several years.

“A lot of people are scared of the basement and get creeped out when they go down there, they see shadows, apparitions and hear voices,” Hogate said. “The basic, typical haunted location claims.”

A sign on the first floor ceiling of the Salem City Municipal Building reads 1928.Staff photo by Kelly Roncace

After a quick walk through, the team began to set up and it didn’t take long for the strange activity to begin.

While setting up in the basement with investigator Jim Worrell, I accompanied him to the back portion of the room to check out an old bank safe. Suddenly, he looked up and around himself, and then stated that someone had touched his left shoulder.

It was going to be an interesting night.

Once the entire building was bugged with cameras — infrared and full spectrum — audio recorders and motion detectors, Hogate and I sat at base to observe the five IR cameras that feed into the DVR system and monitor.

Almost immediately after I sat down, I noticed that something had moved from left to right across the camera in the attic, totally blocking out the screen for about two seconds.

Not two minutes later, the same thing happened with the camera on the second floor.

Was something traveling through the building, coming down to where we were set up to investigate us?

Later in the evening, all the team members came back to base between sweeps. As we were about to disperse and head to different parts of the building, the REM pod which was placed in the basement was activated.

A REM pod emits its own electromagnetic field around an antenna that protrudes from the top of the device. The antenna is surrounded by four colored lights. In order for the device to react, someone or something has to break that field.

Hogate, followed by a curious group of investigators (including myself), went to the top of the basement steps and hollered down.

“OK, if that’s you making the REM pod go off, back away and make it stop for a minute,” he requested.

The noise stopped.

“OK, now get close to it and make it go off again,” he said.

The device almost immediately began beeping.

Just to make sure, Hogate grabbed a new battery before we all descended the stairs to investigate.

The basement of the Salem City Municipal Building.Staff photo by Kelly Roncace

As soon as we arrived and surrounded the area, the REM pod was quiet. However, the investigator who was manning base called down to let us know that the IR camera that was positioned in the opposite corner from the REM pod had just shut off.

“It’s totally off,” she confirmed.

We checked wires and connections, and found there was no reason for the camera to be shut off.

“Can you just turn our camera back on, please?” Hogate asked.

And the camera came back on.

That wasn’t the only strange incident we had that night involving a camera.

A full-spectrum camera that was set up on the second floor and plugged into a wall outlet suddenly lost all charge. However, when it was brought down to base, it had a full charge and more than 100 minutes left of recording time.

Hogate is in the process of reviewing audio evidence and has already found three EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon).

“Based on what we have so far and the experiences we had, I’m thinking there may be one residual energy associated with the bank, and there could be one intelligent spirit that roams the entire building, but I won’t confirm that until all the evidence is reviewed,” Hogate said. “It isn’t necessarily anything evil.”

Hogate said the full report and evidence captured will be available on the JUMPS website at jumps.2fear.com soon.

Do you know of a haunted location that JUMPS could research and investigate? Contact Kelly Roncace at kroncace@southjerseymedia.com with your suggestions.